I vaguely remember this picture being taken. It’s still amazing to me that my pose here was not a clear sign to my parents. When I told them at the age of nineteen that I was gay, their reaction was less than supportive. In my family, like many Catholic families, we have an unwritten rule: If you don’t talk about it, it will go away. They did not want to believe that this little boy, with his knee pointed just so and fabulous hands on his hips, grew up to be a gay man. Denial, anyone?
After I came out, various childhood pictures started to make sense to me. I’m proud to say that my picture was so incredibly gay that it actually inspired Paul V. to create his blog—and now this book—to help kids who may be struggling with coming out or being gay and, yes, to get a few good laughs along the way.
Today, I live in Long Beach, California, and I recently opened my own hair salon. Imagine that, a gay hairstylist. Weird, eh?